One In A Million
by toesox
Summary: James, Lily and the gang, plus some new faces! Before 1st year through to after 7th year. Written before OotP, so not everything is correct. Don't forget to review, review, review! CHAPTER 3 IS UP!
1. Fights, Fireworks and Father Christmas

**One In a Million**

**A Lily and James story**

**About the Hierarchy of the inside of a Ping-Pong Ball**

**Fights, Fireworks, and Father Christmas**

Once upon a time there were 8 children with a great power. They had the power to change the destiny of the world for good or evil. They have changed the world today as we know it, but whether people take those changes for granted or not, I do not know. For some of these children, their tale starts at a party. For the rest of them, it started on a train, to their school. My school. My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am telling you this story, because people who forget, are cursed to make the same mistakes over again.

***********

"Lily Sarah Evans! Get down here now!" Lily rolled over in bed. She did _not_ want to get up and start making Christmas dinner at some ungodly hour of the morning. She decidedly pulled the pillow over her head, ignoring the big 10:58 on her bedside table clock.

About two minutes later, she was awoken again by her tall blonde sister, Petunia, storming into the room and pulling off her covers. "Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep your _highness_" she muttered scathingly, "but it's 11-bloody-O"CLOCK!" 

Lily sprang up from bed and threw on some clothes, before racing down the stairs. "damnit, damnit, damnit" she muttered to herself as she flew down the hallway and turned sharply into the kitchen. 

Phoebe Evans glanced up from the simmering pot she was stirring over the stove and smiled at her youngest daughter. "Ah, the bed bug has finally decided to grace us with her presence."

Lily grinned sheepishly.

Petunia made a face into the pile of plates she was stacking.

Lily stuck her tongue out at her older sister.

The girls mother, failing to notice this exchange, began allocating chores to her daughters, "Lily, would you mind starting to chop those veggies on the board for me? Petunia, watch what you're doing- china is breakable you know."

Petunia, waltzed around the kitchen, humming off tune and pushing everyone so she could get the things she needed to set the table for that nights Christmas dinner party. She pushed past Lily making her hand slip and send a pile of potatoes flying across the bench onto the floor. 

"Petunia!" Lily said angrily, stamping her foot. "Look what you've done! Mum, Petunia knocked-"  

"-I haven't done anything!" Petunia scoffed. "It was _your_ silly clumsiness that made you do that" 

"Now girls, quiet down please!" said their mother, "Lily you really should be more careful around the kitchen, and Petunia, don't annoy your sister." Mrs Evans sighed, then squatted down and began to scoop the potatoes into a bowl. She handed it to her youngest daughter.

"You can wash these now Lily and _please_ try to watch what you're doing from now on."

Lily's mouth fell open and she curled her fists into balls. Just because Petunia refused to learn how to cook, didn't mean that she could mess up everyone else's attempts. It wasn't fair- her sister_ never_ got the blame! Lily was just glaring daggers at Petunias retreating back when suddenly, the pile of dishes that her sister had been carrying rose out of her hands in quick succession and zoomed up towards the ceiling with lightning speed.  They halted inches from smashing and hovered above their heads in mid air.

Petunia shrieked and jumped backwards, her terrified eyes round as saucers. "Mum!" she shrieked, completely hysterical, "MUM! Theres…the…plates…!" She faltered, then seems to loose her voice and just gaped upwards at the plates.

Lily glanced at her mother, her heart hammering in her chest.  This was not the first time that something like this had happened. 

Mrs Evans looked scared. 

"What…Lily?" 

"I-I don't know mum." Lily replied weakly.  They were sure to blame her. They always did.

"Lily Evans get those plates down now!" her mother yelled, her face flustered. Lily could hear the fear in her mothers voice. And she wasn't surprised.  There was something odd about her, and she knew it.  Something different.  Something like magic…but that wasn't possible.

*************

Sirius Black pushed his twin aside and ran down the stairs, barely glancing out the window at the house next door. But even that glance stopped him in his tracks so suddenly, that his twin, Viva, ran into him, making them both tumble down the stairs. At the bottom, Viva sat up, and brushed her long black curls out of her face.

"What was that for?" she snapped, ready to pummel Sirius into the ground for making her fall down the stairs.

"Have a look" Sirius said, rubbing his sore elbow.

Viva, forgetting to be annoyed at her brother, slowly climbed the stairs and gazed out the window, which had a perfect view of their next door neighbours kitchen. She was joined by Sirius, and the two of them stood together, looking at the weird sight that beheld them. 

The overseas ambassador of France had just moved to London with his English wife and two children.  His youngest daughter was standing next to a ladder in the middle of the kitchen, looking up at the ceiling, which had what appeared to be about a dozen plates hovering just below it. The girl climbed the ladder, and tried dislodging a plate from thin air where it appeared to be stuck fast.

 Vivas eyebrows shot up. She would have to investigate this tonight. The French ambassador was holding a dinner party for all his important neighbours in the important wealthy neighbour hood, and the Blacks were at the top of the list.  The French ambassador wanted good connections in England.

"It looks like we have a witch next door" Viva said lightly, pretending to be not the slightest bit interested in what she'd just seen as it was her brother who had pointed it out. Then she pushed Sirius aside and ran downstairs to get to breakfast before him.

**********************

It was 6:00 in the evening, and Lily had just been sent upstairs to get dressed for the party they were hosting that night. After finally getting all the plates down from the ceiling, her mother and Petunia had avoided her all day. Lily sighed. Why did weird things always happen to her? Just as she was about to flop down on her bed, her mother came in, dressed and ready. 

"Lily!" she cried out in shock, apparently ready to put the mornings events behind her. "Why aren't you ready yet? The guests are arriving in half an hour, and pere will be furious if you look shabby!"

"Why did pere have to start this stupid dinner tradition anyway?" Lily grumbled,

"Because we hardly know anyone around here! It will be nice to meet some new people in England- and you never know, you might make a few friends of your own! There's a couple of kids living next door, and they look about your age!" Mrs Evans rushed Lily into the bathroom

"Pere just want to get a good rep with all the rich snobs that live around here and you know it." Lily muttered under her breath.

Mrs Evans raised a perfect blonde eyebrow, "Excuse me, young lady?" she said turning the shower on. 

"I don't care, that doesn't mean I wanted to spend Christmas Eve cooking!" Lily shouted over the running water.

Mrs Evans sighed as she left the bathroom. She knew that Lily had not been at all happy about leaving France and her friends behind. "Look, sweetie, your pere has a very important position both here and back in France, and he wants to be friendly with the people who live around here! It may be very important for his job in the future.  What better way than to have a Christmas dinner! And I am sure you will have lots of fun. Just enjoy- and behave- yourself, like your sister!"

"I don't want to be like Petunia!" Lily cried, stepping out of the shower with a towel around her. "I want to be like myself!"

"Be yourself then!" said Mrs Evans. "Just don't get in trouble!

Lily slipped her green velvet dress over her head and sighed. 

"I won't mama, I wont."

Mrs Evans caught her daughter in a quick hug then held her at an arms length.

"That's better," she said with a smile, "See? That's my beautiful Lily!" 

********************

 "I WON'T!" the shout from the Blacks could be heard all over the world, in Sirius's opinion. But then again, if Viva Black was angry, you had to be afraid.

"I will ABSOLUTELY NOT wear that dress!" Viva yelled. "It is the most DISGUSTING thing since Brussel sprouts!"

Sirius thought she was going a bit far with this comment. He didn't think his white, ruffly, Spanish shirt and traditional black pants looked too crash hot either, but he wasn't saying it was worse than brussel sprouts. That was going a bit over the top. 

Brussel sprouts were bad. 

"Ahhh, here they are!" said his father, pulling something out of a dusty box in the corner. "You're sister is very loud, no?" he chuckled. "Just like you're mother!" he turned around, and Sirius saw he was holding two ridiculously large sombrero hats.

"WHAT!" Sirius yelled in outrage. He couldn't wear one of those hats. He would be the laughing stock of England. "There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you are getting ME to wear one of those hats!"  Ok, so maybe there _was something worse than brussel sprouts, but not by much. There couldn't be something worse than this hat, could there? There was a knock on the door._

"That will be James" Sirius yelled, rushing to get the door, completely forgetting what he was wearing in his hurry to be as far away from the hats as possible. He opened the door and upon seeing him, his scruffy black haired, bespecled best friend took two hurried steps back, and fell head over heels into a pile of snow. Sirius started laughing but James cut him off.

"What the hell happened to you, mate!?" he asked gleefully and starting to laugh.

Sirius looked down and cringed inwardly.  Thinking quickly of the identical outfit that he'd grown out of the year before, he grinned evilly and whispered, "Don't say a word; you have to wear one too!"

James immediately sat up and stopped laughing. "I am going home right now" he said getting up. 

"Sorry pal, no can do, you see, you're parents are somewhere in Australia at the moment- other side of the world, you know? And seeing as they're there on a second honeymoon, I'd really hate for you to disturb them, seeing as they might be doing something that you might not wanna see." Sirius muttered quickly, raising his eyebrows down at his friend. "Ok?" 

"Is your dad in there, Black?" James, who had understood every word perfectly, asked.

"Actually, yes he is!" replied Sirius angelically, grinning charmingly. "why?"

"Oh nothing, nothing at all" James muttered, uncurling his fist. Nasty thoughts were runny through his head, and they weren't only limited to what parents did on 2nd honeymoons.

"Dad!" Sirius called. "Where's that outfit, like mine? James wants to wear it!"

"Why do I really want to punch you right now?" James sighed. He would never win

"Gee I don't know Jamsie-my-boy, but I do know why you don't!" He waited dramatically for James to ask why, but when he didn't, Sirius continued on anyway.

"It's because I'm the most handsome, gorgeous, perfect thing you've ever set eyes on, and you couldn't bear to reck me." Sirius pretended to fluff up his dark hair. 

James rolled his eyes and looked past Sirius into the hallway, just as a struggling Viva was dragged down a stately staircase by her mother, who had proclaimed her perfect. 

"No!" Viva was yelling "I will not go out wearing this THING!"

"You are a Spanish girl, be proud of your heritage!" Mrs Black shot back.

Seeing her dress, Sirius realised that maybe something was worse than his hat. Much worse.

"I will not leave the house!" declared Viva. "Oh, hi James. And Sirius" she added. "Don't know what you were yelling about, Siri, I have reason to be angry, not you. Even with that stupid sombrero pa's gonna make you wear." 

"Don't swear young lady, and if I may say so myself, you look very- er- Spanish." Mr Black said, coming round the corner carrying the frightful hats. Viva looked down at her attire. Her long black hair in twin waist length plaits, with castanet hair bands in them and a big salmon pink dress, with frills in every place that it was physically possible to put frills- and then more frills on top of those frills.  There were even hidden frills that could only be found if you lifted up other frills. It was all too frilly for her liking.  

She felt like a baby. 

"You look like a baby" said Sirius. 

Viva glared daggers at her twin. "I think I'll go get Bobby", she said, turning around, frills swishing, and walking back up the stairs.

"No you wouldn't, would you? Mamma, tell Viva she's not allowed to bring Bobby downstairs. She knows I don't like him." Sirius said hurriedly.

"Now, children calm down." Mrs Black said. "Viva, leave that rabbit upstairs where he belongs, Sirius, take a deep breath, and James, lovely to see you! Now go get changed and we can go- that spare outfit is in the box on top of Sirius' wardrobe."

"Yes Samba." James monotoned, shooting a death glare at Sirius.

"Hey papa," Viva said, "could you change the dress to red for me, please- and get rid of a few frills?" 

"Ok" said the big man, taking a wand out of his robes. "Hold still."

"No!" Mrs Black cried "that dress was my mothers! You can't change it! And besides" she cooed, "Viva looks like such a little darling in it!"

 "You've got to give her some self respect Samba! She looks like a baby!" Mr Black argued. They continued to fight over it until Mr Black finally said, "alright! I won't change it!" 

Vivas shoulders sagged, and Sirius snickered behind her, then caught sight of himself in the hall mirror and his face fell. James came down the stairs a moment later in full traditional Spanish attire, and standing together, the three children looked a picture of perfectly groomed misery.  As they walked through the front door of the house, Mr Black pointed his wand and muttered a spell under his breath, before quickly pocketing it, and when the family entered the Evans' hall next door, Viva looked quite nice. She made her way over to Sirius and James, who were whispering about something. She only caught the words 'explosions' and 'food', before they saw her coming and shut up. 

She went over to her mother who was gossiping animatedly to a tall blonde woman, instantly recognisable as Mrs Evans.

Viva was immediately introduced to the youngest of the Evans daughters. The one with red hair and green eyes who she and Sirius had watched trying to get the plates of the roof earlier that day.

"Hey" she said to the girl. Viva's first thought, when looking at her, was that she had yet to grow into her eyes- which where a very striking emerald but entirely out of proportion with the rest of her freckled face,

"Ooh, you're from next door, aren't you?! I'm Lily" the girl said, sticking out her hand.

"Viva Black, nice to meet you." Viva could tell she was going to like this girl. She beckoned her over to a quiet corner of the room, and after checking no one was listening she said,

"Um, listen, Lily, I need you to help me with something. But first, that's my brother Sirius, and his friend James Potter. I think they are going to put fireworks under the buffet table tonight."

Lily's eyes widened. "No way _on earth_ are they putting anything under that table, I spent all day cooking it!"

"My thoughts exactly." Viva said, nodding knowingly. She grinned, "So you want to help me pay them back?"

"Defiantly!" Exclaimed Lily, as though Viva was quite disturbed in the head to think she might answer anything else.

"We have an understanding then?" Viva asked, happy that she had encountered the nicer daughter.

"Yep! Hey, do you want to come up to my room- you can explain to me how these fireworks work." Said Lily, tying back her frizzy red hair.

"I'm an expert on pranks." Said Viva quietly. "I use them as self defence on my brother."

"Is he really that bad?" Lily asked sceptically. Few could be worse than Petunia.

"You are very lucky you don't have a brother." Said Viva and shuddered. "I wish I had a sister instead."

"Never ever say that again in my presence." Lily said in revolt. "My sister is the prissiest most stuck up piece of donkey dung in the entire universe. I don't know what I did to get her as a sister." 

"Wow she must be bad!"

Lily shook her head, "Worse".

Viva laughed at the disgusted look on her new friends face, "We should get to work. We have to think like them" she said. 

Together, they figured out the most strategic position to put the fireworks- the place where the boys would undoubtedly plant them. They then decided that Viva would be the diversion, and Lily would get the fireworks out from under the table, and put them under the boys' chairs. 

"This is going to be funny!" Lily said happily. For the first time in ages she was having fun. "I feel rebellious!"

"c'mon, lets go get em" said Viva laughing.

"Lets go" Lily agreed. 

They carried off the plan with perfect accuracy. Surprisingly for Lily, who was not used to the perfectly executed pranks of Sirius and James, the fireworks were in the place that Viva had said they would be; In the middle of the table right under the turkey. She got them out and carried them over to where Viva was standing next to the boys table. Predictably, the neither were there. She gave the fireworks to Viva, who secured them under their chairs, and set them to go off on contact- when Sirius and James sat down. They had one firework left. Just as they were walking back towards Lily's room, they bumped into someone. It was a short boy with spiky black hair and a sallow face. 

"Hey." The boy growled. "No one bumps into Severus Snape and gets away with it."

"I'm sorry, _Severus Snape, we didn't see you there." Said Lily stiffly. _

"As I thought. You will have to be taught a lesson." He raised his fist.

"Are you going to hit me?" said Lily, furrowing her eyebrows, surprisingly unafraid.

"What does it look like, muggle?" snarled Snape and he swung his fist as hard as he could; only to have it hit thin air. Lily had merely stepped backward, avoiding the blow. Snape was put off balance by this, and toppled forward, smacking his face on the floor, because Lily had jumped to the side.

"Poor little idiot" Lily muttered. 

"Go Lily!"  Viva whooped, "That greasy slug's bad news- we know his family. Let's put that extra firework on his seat, shall we?"

"Great minds think alike!" Lily said with a grin, and they high-fived.

The rest of the Party went relatively smoothly, bar a few minor incidents. James, Sirius and Severus Snape all got the surprises of their lives when they sat down for dinner, and later in the evening the three boys, who knew each other from their expensive private primary school, had a small run in. For Viva and Lily, the party was the beginning of an instant friendship.

**********

7 months later three owls flew through Carmen Street. One stopped at the Evans's house and two more flew onto the house next door. The first one was greeted with a sleepy "huh?" and the second two were greeted to exited screams. These owls were carrying letters. Acceptance letters.

To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Trouble on Trains

****

Disclaimer: Hers, not ours.

**Chapter 2:**

**Trouble on Trains**

And so the story has started for some, but not for all. Perhaps the true beginning was on the Hogwarts Express, where all true beginnings are. You shall have to decide for yourself.

*****************

"FREEEEDOM!" Eliza Silverstien cried as the scarlet steam train started to roll out of Kings Cross Station to the rhythmic chug of wheels and pistons.

"Keep it down a bit, Liz!" said Remus Lupin, her tall, sandy haired best friend, grinning at her. "You can't let your parents know that you're not devastated to be leaving home for a year."

"I'm not though, and besides she's probably just as glad to get rid of me." The short brunet's eyes sparkled. "Our mums are probably talking about it now, how nice it'll be to have some 'peace and quite' around the house for a change. My dear mother has somehow got the idea into her silly head that I make a lot of noise!"

"I wonder how that could have happened." Came the sarcastic reply.

Eliza poked her tongue out at Remus, but grinned all the same. She knew just as well as he did that she was loud, very loud for such a little person. "Very funny Rem. We need a place to sit." The two had been sitting on their trunks in the isle of the train and needed to find a compartment.

"That could be useful." Remus replied, making no attempt to get up.

"Then get off your lazy butt and start dragging." Eliza had started to drag her huge trunk, which if it had stood vertical would have been at least 3 times as wide as her and almost her height, along the floor- without much success. Even for the little sport obsessed tomboy that she was, it was a tad too heavy. Though there were very few people that she would rather die than admit this to.

Remus was one of these people.

"It…won't…MOVE!" she panted, before giving up and sitting on it again. " Er, Rem?"

Remus rolled his eyes at her, sensing what was coming. "Yes, I'll help you get your trunk into a compartment, and risk getting a bad back seeing as I was the one who dragged both of the trunks onto the train in the first place."

"Aww, thanks Remmy-" Eliza began but was cut off with a glare from Remus, who hated it when she used his mothers pet name. "Sorry Rem, I knew I could count on you!" 

Remus, however, didn't have a chance to reply, for at that moment two things happened in very quick succession. Two of the nearby compartment doors flew open at once. Out of one bolted a tall, chocolate eyed boy of about 11 with black shaggy hair, and out of the other stumbled a small, skinny boy of about the same age with scruffy black hair and glasses. Both were laughing hysterically at the shrieks that could be heard from the compartments they had just exited. 

The next moment, a pale, chubby blond boy, being closely pursued by two others, sprinted around the corner with a terrified look on his face. Eliza and Remus flattened them selves against the train's wall, but the blonde boy didn't see the trunks until it was too late. He tripped over Remus' trunk and went flying through the air landing with a stomach lurching thud on top of the kid with the black shaggy hair. The kid wasn't expecting this sudden attack and went flying backwards sliding along the floor for a few seconds, before coming to a stop, with a dazed look on his face, at the feet of two girls who had just come around the corner. The guy with the glasses cracked up again at the sight of his stunned friend, but turned with a look of disgust at one of the boys who had been chasing the blonde.

"Would you look at that, its Snapey. Long time no see, eh mate?"

"Potter." Spat Snape.

"Who's your friend?" The glasses wearing kid jabbed a thumb at the haughty, blonde boy with a pale, pointed face and white blond hair who was standing beside Snape. "Have you told him he looks like an albino rat yet?"

"Get lost Potter." Snarled Snape, and looking over the boy's shoulder he smirked "Oh, I see you've brought your whole fan club. Look it's the Black twins! What a pleasant surprise, and the stuck up French muggle with the freaky eyes from the party. How did you make it into Hogwarts, mudblood?" Snape asked coolly. The boy wearing glasses glared at him. The redhead raised an eyebrow.

"Get lost your self Snape." Said the other boy, coming up beside his friend. "And take your slimy friend with you."

"Don't think I will Black, it's a free train."

"If you had any sense, at all, you would leave now." Both boys were now standing side by side, glaring at Snape with identical looks of hatred on their faces.

"Ooh, I'm scared now! What are you going to do to me Black? Get your little club to attack? You're going to need more than those two wimps behind you to do much to me. Or have you enlisted more members?" Snape nodded in the direction of Remus and Eliza, who were standing against the side of the train taking the whole scene in with wide eyes. "I'd like too see those weaklings try."

The shaggy haired boy looked ready to punch Snape square in the nose. 

"That one doesn't look like she'd be able to lift a beaters bat, let alone take me on." Snape continued.

Inside, Eliza was fuming. She detested with vengeance being called little and weak, and this greasy kid was a horrid bully. Who did he think he was talking to people like that!?

"Liz, don't-" Remus muttered, eyeing the boy warily.

"Why the confused face?" Snape asked coolly, looking right down his hooked nose at Eliza, "Don't know what a beater is? A muggle are you then mudblood? Eh? A bitchy little mudblood?"

And then She punched him. Square in the nose. Snape wasn't expecting it and screaming fell onto his rear on the ground clutching his nose in agony.

"Crap! You bloody son-of-a-witch!" He stumbled up onto his feet again and still holding his nose, which was now bleeding, lunged at Eliza. 

With a well aimed kick to the groin, he was on the ground again clutching his, ahem, package. When he had recovered sufficiently, he stood up stiffly and motioned for his blonde haired friend to follow him. The two of them, with a last dirty look in their direction, swept past the two boys and Eliza. As he went past the other two girls, the girl with waist-long curls put her foot out. Snape stumbled but righted himself before he fell, and with an extremely vulgar gesture with his free hand, swept away around the corner.

Everyone was silent for a moment until the two boys glanced at each other and doubled over with laughter. 

"He- Ha-ha- did you see-gasp-his - hahaha- his face." The shaggy haired one choked out, completely beside himself with laughter.

His friend couldn't reply for a full two minutes. When he could though, the two stood up with very solemn looks on their faces and shook hands seriously.

"You look very serious all of a sudden, my friend," commented the one with glasses, and the two of them cracked up again at the lameness of his joke.

"That's old James." His friend told him, playfully punching him on the arm.

"You think I care- It's a classic."

"Too true, too true."

"Sirius!?" James stage whispered to his friend.

"Yes?"

"I do believe we have some introductions to make."

"Oh yes, how could I forget!" Sirius replied grinning at Remus and Eliza, who had been very quite after her little outburst. "More people to adore me!"

Eliza raised an eyebrow as the two approached but grinned at them, and Remus smiled warmly. 

"Hey!" said James. "I'm James, but you can refer to me as your Majesty or just plain old God."

"And believe it or not, my name is James too. Don't look at me like that, I'm Sirius!" James and Sirius cracked up again at the joke. 'And might I say," Sirius continued, "That was a bloody fine punch!"

"Brilliant!" raved James, "Absolutely brilliant! You gave that slimy toerag right what he deserved-"

"But, ouch, that must've hurt!" Sirius grinned and shook hands with Remus.

"Remus Lupin." Remus introduced him self politely.

"And who might the little lady be?" asked Sirius, referring to the head and a half height difference between him and Eliza.

"Er, hi James and James," Eliza said and shook Sirius' extended had cautiously "I'm Eliz-" Suddenly she pulled back her hand with a shriek, to find it dripping with a stick black liquid. "What the HELL! What the bloody bollocking hell do you think you're doing James?!"

"I didn't do anything!" James replied grinning.

"Not you, Him!" she glared at Sirius and before he could react, jumped, and smeared sticky black stuff all down his left cheek. 

"Whoa!" said James. "You made him seriously black!"

"What is this stuff?!" she asked, glaring at Sirius who was glaring right back at her and holding his black cheek. No one had ever done that before.

"Just a little Black substance I invented." replied Sirius, with an annoying superiority in his voice, despite his stained cheek. Eliza continued to glare.

"Just ignore my ugly brother." Said the girl with black curls, smiling at Eliza and Remus and stepping in before any more trouble could occur. "I'm Viva Black, that thing which you so kindly blackened even more is Sirius, my twin, hence the bad seriously black jokes. And this is Lily Evans." The freckly red head smiled widely at the two and greeted them with a friendly "Hi!"

"And I'm Remus Lupin," Remus said with a grin.

"And I really am James." James said.

Eliza looked at Viva for confirmation. Viva nodded. "James Potter, almost as bad as Siri when it comes to troublemaking. Almost. No one ever beat a Black in that department."

James looked miffed. "Sure we could Viv, without us Potters you Blacks would be nothing!"

"You keep believing that Jamie," Sirius said, and then turned to Eliza. "Speaking of black your hand looks rather sticky, not at all attractive- there's a bathroom down the hall." 

Let's just say that if looks could kill, Sirius would have disintegrated into a whiff of hydrogen about then. Eliza glared at him and went off to find the bathroom, but not before smearing sticky black stuff all over the other side of his face.

"Ooh, Feisty!" Sirius grumbled. Eliza stalked off. "Bitch" he muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Eliza called over her shoulder. "Cocky bastard" she then disappeared around the corner. 

The door right at the end of the hallway had a sign it saying "Ladies". Eliza opened it and went in, to find that the room had obviously been magically enlarged, as there were at least 6 bathroom stalls and a rather large quantity of basins squeezed into what, from the out side, appeared to be only a few metres of space. The bathroom was deserted except for a girl with shoulder length wavy blonde hair, and dark blue eyes, who was washing her hands at one of the sinks. She was a good head taller than Eliza, but that hardly said anything, as everyone was at least a head taller than her, Remus was at least one and a half. She looked about 11 as well, so Eliza, being friendly, went over to the sink next to her to wash her hands.

"Hey," she said smiling at the girl. "Is this you first year at Hogwarts?" 

"Yep." The girl replied, smiling slightly.

"Cool, mine too. I'm Eliza Silverstien. I would shake hand but, er…" The blonde girl looked down at Eliza's black hands and laughed.

"Oh I see. What happened to you?"

"Long story, sorry what was your name?"

"Jordana Figg, call me Jordy though. It's easier to remember." She grinned.

"I know what you mean, I don't even bother telling people that I'm actually Elizabeth anymore- they sort of assume that its just Eliza." She smiled, but it faded very quickly as she looked down at her hand- which was still black. She scrubbed harder but nothing happened. "Bollocks!" she muttered under her breath. "I am going to kill that sleazy, screwed up grasshopper." 

"Screwed up grasshopper?" asked Jordy with raised eyebrows. 

"You don't want to know. Have you got a compartment yet?" 

"Kinda, But I don't know any of the people that I'm sharing with and they're all 4th years."

"Do you want to come share with us- I mean I have to actually find where I'm sitting first, one of my friends was moving my stuff for me."

"That would be great thanks." Jordy smiled at Eliza and nodded in the direction of the door. "Are you ready to go yet?" she asked, "or do you want to finish cleaning your hands."

"Agghh! I give up," groaned Eliza- her hands were no less cleaner than they were when she began- they had lost the sticky wetness but seemed to be stained black. "He is really going to get it."

"Who," asked Jordy grinning, "the screwed up grasshopper?"

"Yeah, that."

"Come on- do you mind if we stop and get my stuff on the way?"

"No problemo." The two girls exited the bathroom and made their way down the hall- stopping on the way to pick up Jordy's trunk. Eliza poked her head in all of the compartments along the way until she found the one with her friends in it.

"Hey again." She stuck her head in the door. "Whoa! Small enough!?" the compartment had 4 seats and only a few metres of floor space, which when filled with 5 people and 6 trunks left very little free space. Lily, James and Viva were squashed together in two seats as it was. 

"Oh don't complain shrimp." Sirius replied. "At least we got one. Beside you could easily sit in the hallway if we're too lowly for high and mighty citizens such as your self to associate with."

Eliza ignored him and opened the door entirely so that everyone could see her new friend.

"Everyone, this is Jordy- I picked her up in the bathroom. Jordy, meet everyone."

"Er, hi everyone."

"That's Remus Lupin, the blonde one ("I have light brown hair, Eliza Silverstein!"), James Potter is the one in the glasses, that's Lily, that's Viva Black and that thing with black all over its face," the ink had stained where Eliza had slapped him, "is Sirius Black."

Jordana laughed at the glare Eliza gave him. "So you're the screwed up grass hopper?"

"Hey Liz, that's mean- I'm way better looking than a grasshopper!"

"You flatter yourself Black. Go look in a mirror" Sirius scowled at her. He hadn't even done much to her in the first place, except get ink all over her hands- he smirked when he saw that they were as black as ever- and now she hated him. Bloody girls. He was never going to figure them out.

"Um, where do we sit?" asked Eliza, "And where should we dump our stuff?"

"Leave your trunks in the hallway," Viva advised, "And squash up."

After a moments debate, Jordy sat between the wall and Sirius and Eliza parked herself on Remus' lap.

"Did you two know each other before this?" Lily asked Remus and Eliza.

The nodded simultaneously, "We've know each other for ever," Remus replied, "Literally- we live next door to each other and our mums are best friends."

"Cool," said James, "That's kinda the same with me and Siri. When did we first meet Si?"

"No idea anymore- but I think it was a ministry dinner- our dads both work there- and we accidentally-" James coughed, "-set the ministers shirt sleeve on fire with one of the candles at the table- very unoriginal so we must have been really young." 

"Fond memories eh, Si?" James sighed very solemnly.

"Yes those were the days- back when we were young, carefree, innocent-"

"Bullshit my dear brother," Viva grinned at him. "When we were born, the first thing you did when ma was holding us was grab my nose and not let go- and it got worse from there!"

"'Twas all a fabrication of your imagination, dear sister." Sirius replied, then changing the subject, "What house does everyone want to be in?" 

"What are the houses?" Lily asked curiously. 

"You don't know!" Viva seemed shocked. "Well Gryffindor is by far the best. Mum and dad were both in there. Your dad was too, wasn't he Jamie?"

James nodded, " Slytherin are all evil," he told Lily, " You know that greasy guy that Eliza punched up before- that was Snape, he's almost certainly gonna be in Slytherin and unless I'm very much mistaken, he wants to be. His friend Malfoy too. But then again I don't think there's ever been a nice Malfoy."

"Are you muggle born?" Eliza asked Lily, who nodded. 

"It all came as a bit of a shock." she said with a grin.

"I bet it did- do you reckon that you could get me the muggle cricket and football scores? I can get them at home, cause we live near a muggle town, but I won't be able to at Hogwarts."

"She's obsessed." Remus clarified, seeing the confused faces around them. 

"What's cricket and football?" asked Viva, voicing the common question.

"A muggle ball game."

"Like Quidditch?!" You could see James and Sirius' faces visibly brightening at the mere mention of the game.

"Nooo!" moaned Remus, "Don't get her started on Quidditch."

Eliza grinned at James, and chose to ignore Sirius entirely. "You play Quidditch?" she asked.

"The both of them live for Quidditch!" Viva told her. James grinned sheepishly.

"Hey it's a good game sis- even you've gotta admit that!" Sirius glanced down at Eliza's hands. "Weren't you supposed to be washing those?" He asked with a grin.

"I did, but your bloody black slime stained them!"

"Oops, I wonder how that could have happened now."

"I bet you don't, you arrogant prat!"

"Hypocrite- you're a bloody conceited bitch. You do know that right!!? What did I EVER do to you?!!"

A glaring Eliza flicked her hand in the direction of his face, not even bothering with a reply. 

"So?!! You have ink on your hands, thanks to you, I've got the bloody stuff ALL OVER MY FACE!!" he yelled, frustrated with her lack of answer.

"WELL THAT'S YOU PROBLEM ISNT IT!! Next time you might think twice before playing some…SOME STUPID PRANK ON-"

"Shut UP! Both of you!" James cut in loudly.

"NO!" they yelled in sync, now turning on James.

"Sirius Black," Came Viva's 'no nonsense' voice. "Don't make me use middle names."

Whatever Sirius had been about to say was promptly aborted as he clamped his mouth shut and shook his head furiously at his sister.

"Don't even think about it! Any thing but middle names!"

"How about Bobby then?" Viva asked, fiddling with the lock on her trunk, which contained her pet rabbit.

"No! You wouldn't!" Sirius looked frantic now.

"Bobby?" Eliza smirked at Sirius, "sounds really scary." She said sarcastically

"My bunny rabbit." Viva confirmed with a grin.

"A Rabbit!" snorted Eliza, she giggled, "Is poor idle widdle Siwius scared of the big bad bunny wabbit?"

Sirius scowled. "It's not funny." He muttered under his breath.

"Who's afraid of the big white rabbit, the big white rabbit...?" Eliza began singing under her breath. 

Sirius slouched back in his chair and glared at her as she sang, blood boiling, and then without any warning, just as she was getting to the "falalalala", he lunged at her. 

Eliza shrieked at the unexpected attack, and scrambled backwards off Remus' lap and found her back hard up against the window. Sirius clapped a hand over her mouth and held it there, opening his mouth as if to yell at her, but before he could do anything, Eliza had swung her hand around slapping him hard across the cheek.

There was a deafening silence, as Sirius dropped his hands. 

Twice.

Twice in one day.

Sirius saw red.

His confidence had taken a rare severe beating. 

Nobody got away with embarrassing Sirius Black. 

Fuming, he punched her square in the stomach and out of self-defense she retaliated with one to the side of his head.

"You… YOU BASTARD!" she screamed as Sirius grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled it hard. She got another hard punch into his gut before the two were dragged apart by Remus and James.

Jordy, on the other hand, had stood up, and was glaring angrily at Sirius.

"You would hit a girl?" she asked, so incredulously, that Sirius was unable to answer, as what he had done slowly sank in. As Jordy exited hurriedly, he looked around the compartment, still struggling. When he found no support from anyone there, he glared at Eliza, struggling all the more. It was all her fault.

Remus held a squirming Eliza firmly down on his lap again, and James forced Sirius back down into his seat. With a lot of struggling he succeeded. Once settled, the two refused to acknowledge each other's existence for the rest of the trip. 

******************************

Authors note:

Heya all the people reading this! And all the beautiful, amazing, perfect reviewers! Chapter two is installed! Woohoo! Hope your enjoying it, constructive criticism is welcome, and reviewreviewreview! (They're our vital source).

Next Up:  
Boat rides, sorting, and we meet Peter! Um, yay…

-Toesox


	3. Home at Hogwarts

Disclaimer: it's all ours! Muhahahaha! -Er…wait a minute…um…no. Try again. How about… JK owns everything we don't… ok. Have fun reading!! J 

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**Chapter 3:**

**Home at Hogwarts **

And so our eight have met. As they continue to grow closer together, they continue to fulfil their prophecy. They are of great importance to the lives of many. I choose not to comment on the violent behaviour of two of them, but prefer to give it time. Who knows? It may change…

**************************************************************************************

"Firs' years!" called the loud reassuring voice as they all filed off the train into the darkness. They saw that the man who was calling them held a lantern, which lit up his huge face. "Firs' years this way!" he called. Lily gathered up her too-big robes from the damp ground, and walked over, watching her feet so as not to trip on anything and muttering 'excuse me,' under her breath.

"Righ'. Y'all here?" The giant man asked, surveying the group of first years, and then looking around to see if any of them still didn't know where to go. A stout blonde haired girl hurried over to the group.

"Alrigh', follow me." he said, when she had arrived. They all followed the enormous man to the edge of a huge lake. There was a small group of boats with lanterns hanging in them, bobbing merrily against the dark sky.

"No more'n four to a boat," the huge man said, watching all of the first years as they all clambered into the boats.

"Oh bullocks." Eliza huffed, as she looked at the people she was sharing a boat with. "I'm bloodystuck in a boat with you." She was in a boat with none other than James, Sirius and Lily.

"I am surrounded by idiots!" Eliza moaned, hanging her head.

"Hey!" Lily protested. 

"Except for you Lily." Eliza said.

"I resent that." Sirius muttered.

"Well I don't give a damn." Eliza shot back.

"Well I do. You shouldn't insult someone of my flair and finesse." 

"More like your clumsiness," Eliza said, sitting up suddenly and lurching sideways. The boat rocked violently, and Sirius fell with a splash into the ice cold water.

"Aarrgghh!" Sirius screamed, trying to scramble back into the boat. "Cold, _cold_, COLD!" Surprised, but laughing, Eliza pushed him back down again, only to feel a strong hand grab her wrist and in a few seconds, she was drenched in the icy lake water as well.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" the lake echoed with the screams of Eliza Silverstein. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" 

By this time, the giant man, Hagrid, had rowed his boat over to the cause of all the commotion.

"Wha's all this?" he asked with a frown, once he had helped them back into the boat.

"He started it!" cried Liza, teeth chattering madly.

"She started it!" Sirius screamed at the same time.

"I did not!" they yelled in unison.

"STOP BLOODY COPYING ME!" they both shouted.

A fuming Eliza scooped up some floating pondweed and shoved it down Sirius's robes with a satisfied smirk. The look of surprised disgust on his face at the sensation of slimy cold pondweed sliding down his back was quite comical.

"I'll be keeping that for later," He said, recovering quickly and fishing it out, putting it in his pocket and grinning infuriatingly, even though the effect was taken away by his constant shivering. They sat down and turned to Lily and James, who in the commotion, had grabbed onto each other so as not to be pushed out of the boat, but were still snuggled into each other, now that it was over. 

"Ooooooooh! Lily and Ja-ames, sitting in a tree! K–I-S-S-I-N-G!" Sirius chanted. Lily and James jumped away from each other like they were on fire, and Eliza took her chance to push Sirius in again.

**************************************************************************************

As they all walked into the entrance hall, Jordy gasped. It was huge. Huger than huge. Her house could have fit three and a half times in it. Well, maybe not three and a half, but still, it was huge! She was standing next to Remus, the boy who had pulled Eliza away from Sirius on the train. He had been in her boat. She couldn't help but feel like a bit of a stranger around these people. She had spent all her life around adults and people that were quite a few years older than her. This was the first time in years she had found somewhere where she had the chance and the right to belong. She turned and smiled at Remus, who was also gazing around in wonder. 

"Hey." She said nervously. "I don't think we met properly before. I'm is Jordy Figg."

Remus smiled.

"Remus Lupin." He said cheerfully. "How huge is this place!"

"I know." She breathed. Everything was going to be just fine. "It's so magical."

"Funny about that." Remus said with a funny half-grin on his face, raising an eyebrow. "Can you say duh?" 

Jordy giggled, and was about to answer him, when a woman swept to the front of the group. She was tall, and very thin, with a small strict mouth and grey streaked hair brushed back in a tight bun at the back of her head. Her square glasses were perched upon the end of a long pointed nose. At first sight Jordy could tell that she wasn't to be messed with. She wrinkled her nose.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank-you Hagrid" she answered with a curt nod at the giant man. She surveyed the newest arrives slowly.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term Banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. Your house will be like your family. You will have classes with your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose points. At the end of the year the house cup is awarded to the house with the most points.

"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily. I suggest that you smarten yourselves up a bit while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered on Eliza and Sirius, standing side by side, sopping wet and shivering.

"What happened to you two?" Viva looked at them with her eyebrows raised.

"He pushed me in!" Eliza said, glaring at Sirius, who glared right back.

"No, you pushed me in!" he said.

"I think I know perfectly well what happened, Black." 

"I think you don't, midget."

"I do!"

"Do not."

"Do too." 

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Ha got you!"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did."

"I don't have times for your stupid immature games Black; I don't know why I was talking to you in the first place."

"Bitch."

"cocky bastard"

"Cow."

"Screwed-up grasshopper."

"Conceited hedgehog shaped cucumber"

"Conceited hedgehog shaped cucumber?"

"Enough!" Viva said loudly, in her 'no nonsense' tone of voice. Everyone turned and stared at Eliza and Sirius for a second, and then started talking again. Eliza flushed pink and glared up at Sirius.

"I hate you." She said venomously.

"Love you too, hon." Sirius said, batting his eyelids. Eliza kicked him in the shin, but left it at that as Professor McGonagall had just come back in.

"They are ready for you." She said, and opening the huge oak door, she led the way into the great hall. The group of nervous first years filed in behind her.

**************************************************************************************

As McGonagall opened the door to the great hall, James had to stare. From beside him, he heard Viva gasp. He imitated her in falsetto.

"Shut up, James." She whispered, elbowing him in the stomach.

"Ouch. It bites." He whispered back, grinning. 

"Like that really hurt you." She rolled her eyes. James raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up." he murmured. 

"You were the one talking in the first place." Viva muttered back. James ignored her.

"Line up here" Professor McGonagall called to them. Viva was getting the twitches in her knees. She hated it when that happened. It only happened when she was nervous. She punched her knees so that they would stay straight, all the while cursing her last name for starting with a B. 

"Abbot, Rochelle." Professor McGonagall called out. A small girl with pigtails and chubby cheeks walked up to the hat and put it on her head. After a few seconds, the hat yelled out;

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Anton, Jeremy."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Black, Sirius."

Viva tensed up as she watched Sirius, devoid of his usual strut, walk nervously up to the hat. It was nice to know that the king-of-cool could be fazed by something. He put it on his head and it stayed there for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. Viva raised her eyebrows in surprise, smiling a little. Her brother was a weird one all right.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled. Viva let her shoulders sag in relief, as she heard James wolf whistling beside her.

"Black, Viva."

Viva immediately tensed up again, but walked proudly up to the hat anyway. She could feel hundreds of eyes on her back and her sparkly blue toe socks. She sat down and pulled the hat over her ears.

"_Ah yes, another Black. Goodness knows you and your brother are going to cause a lot of trouble around here. Oh, by the way, he is planning to trip your friend Eliza up with that pondweed that he kept from the boat trip. You might want to pick it up. By the way, nice socks. Now let's see, where to put you. Hmmm, how about…GRIFFINDOR!"_

Viva, grinning, heaved a sigh of relief, and got up from the chair. On her way down to the Gryffindor table, she bent and picked up the slimy pondweed in front of Eliza. 

"You might want to kill my brother." She whispered happily, putting the pondweed into Eliza's hand and continuing to walk to the table.

"Evans, Lily." McGonagall read out.

They all watched as Lily walked up to the hat, her hair catching the light from the thousands of floating candles, making it look like it was on fire. They waited only a few seconds before the hat called out;

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Yeah! Woohoo! Go Lily!" shouted Viva, hugging Lily as she sat down.

"Now we only have to hope for two more people." Lily replied.

"Figg, Jordana."

Jordy ran up to the hat and crammed it on her head.

"If she did that any faster, we wouldn't have been able to see her." Sirius commented.

It only took around 3 seconds for the hat to yell;

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Viva and Lily jumped up to hug their new friend and welcome her to the table.

"Only one more person!" Lily said, so happily, that she thought she might burst. They watched nervously as some more students were sorted into Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin as Remus drew closer to the front of the line, Viva watched in interest as McGonagall called out names.

"Lockhart, Gilderoy!" the professor's voice rang out over the hall.

A rather handsome boy with startlingly blonde hair, and when he grinned at McGonagall, even more startlingly white teeth made his way confidently to the front of the great hall. When he arrived in front of the stool, he paused for a moment before pulling from the pocket of his robes with a flourish a sky blue handkerchief. As the school watched on in amazement, he dusted off the stool before he daintily placed himself on it, crossed one leg over the other and hesitated to put the tattered hat on his head in such a way that Viva was given the distinct impression he was worried about ruffling or dirtying his hair.

The hat mused on the boys head, and from what you could see of the expression on his face, he had gone from politely uncomfortable, to pretty annoyed.

Finally, after several more minutes, the hat yelled out

"SLYTHERIN!"

Viva found herself unsurprised. 

"Lupin, Remus." 

Viva watched with interest as Remus walked up to the hat. He caught her eye just before it slipped over his eyes and smiled. Viva smiled back, although he couldn't see her. They waited for what seemed forever, before the hat shouted out;

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus took the hat off and came down to the Gryffindor table smiling, but looking very white.

"High fives, Rem!" Sirius said, holding up a hand, which Remus slapped happily.

**************************************************************************************

"Malfoy, Lucius."

Lucius sauntered up to the hat and James glared at him. He hated that git and his crony Snape; they were always trying to make life miserable for others. The hat barely touched his head before it shouted out 

"SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy walked over to the far table with a self-satisfied look on his face. James felt sick.

"Pettigrew, Peter." McGonagall called out. James saw that this was the blonde boy who had been running from Snape and Malfoy. Now instead of terrified, he looked quite confident, and it transformed his face entirely. He sat down and pulled the hat over his ears. It didn't take long for him to be sorted into Gryffindor either.

It had just occurred to James that he was next, when McGonagall called out 

"Potter, James."

James walked slowly up to the hat and put it on, letting it slip over his nose.

'Godric Gryffindor sure had a big head', he thought. To his surprise, a voice answered him.

"_Actually, no he didn't. I'm only a medium size hat. Don't worry you'll grow. Now let's see. Where shall I put you? You're definitely not for Hufflepuff, you've already planned too much rule breaking for Ravenclaw, and you're too caring about others for Slytherin. Well I must say it's always the last place you look. You'd fit like a glove in … _GRYFFINDOR!"

James jumped up and ran over to the Gryffindor table, grinning like there was no tomorrow. He felt Sirius pat him on the back, and heard Remus say "Well done mate!" And saw Lily smile and nod. He grinned back at her, but she had already looked away. His stomach growled hungrily as "Rom, Sarah." was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Silverstein, Eliza." McGonagall called out. Eliza walked up to the hat and put it on. All you could see of her face were her nose and mouth, the latter of which was smiling evilly. 

Next to James, Remus muttered; "Oh no. It usually means trouble when she smiles like that."

"Was she dropped on her head when she was a baby?" Sirius asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, something's stunted her growth."

"Shhhh"

A few seconds later, the hat hollered out;

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Eliza grinned and half skipped over to the table, and as soon as she saw Sirius, her face darkened.

"What the hell is this?" she whispered, waving the pondweed in Sirius's face. Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know?" he tried innocently.

"I'm ignoring you. You are the most immature person in the world!" She glared at him.

"Have you met everyone in the world?" Sirius asked with a grin on his face.

Eliza ignored him.

James grinned at his friends and looked over at Viva, who was now fake-crying, blowing her nose in a wary Sirius's sleeve and emotionally declaring; "Isn't it wonderful! We're all together!"

**************************************************************************************

Lily looked over at the blonde boy that they had rescued on the train. She thought she might as well make some introductions, while they were waiting for the sorting to end, so she stuck out her hand and said;

"Hey, I'm Lily Evans, who are you?"

"Peter Pettigrew, nice to meet you." He replied, smiling. "Are you muggle-born?"

"Yes." Lily replied loudly, over the booing of James and Sirius as Severus Snape was sorted into Slytherin. She couldn't help but think it was a rather strange question. "Are you?"

"Half blood." He answered. "Mum's a squib and dad's a muggle, but my grandma's a witch." 

"What's a squib?" Lily asked, curious.

"Someone whose parent are magic, but can't do magic themselves." Peter replied.

Lily nodded. It sounded a though it was exactly the opposite situation to what she was in. "That must be horrible." She said. 

"Yeah, but I'm used to it." he said with a shrug. He was then silent as Dumbledore stood to make a speech.

"I am well aware that after a long hard day of sitting on a train eating sweets, you must all be ravenous, so I'll make this quick." He said, his blue eyes twinkling. "As you are all aware, the forbidden forest is absolutely forbidden to all students. No magic is to be used in the hallways between classes, and Quidditch trials will be held in the third week of term. Any second years or above who are interested in trying out for their house team should contact madam Hooch, or your house Quidditch captain.       And now, we eat!"

He sat down and food instantly appeared on the plates. Lily's mouth fell open. Peter laughed.

"Wow! Food!" he said, grinning delightedly, before dishing some shepherds' pie onto his plate.

"Hey, you know who you should meet?" Lily said, helping herself to a bit of everything except the mint humbugs.

"Who?" Peter asked.

"Them." Lily said, pointing up the table to Sirius, Remus and James, who were laughing. "Hey guys!" she called.

"Yeah?" James asked, leaning forward to look down at her.

"Meet Peter." She said "he's the guy you saved on the train. Peter, this is James, Sirius and Remus. Be nice, guys."

Peter rolled his eyes as Lily turned around to talk to her friends.

"Hey." Peter said "How do you eat those, Remus! They're disgusting!" he looked at the mint humbugs on Remus's plate. The boys cracked up, holding their stomachs, which were already sore from so much laughing. Peter raised his eyebrow, confused. He was trying to work out whether they were laughing at what he had just said, or if they were laughing at him. Finally Sirius wheezed; "Great minds think alike mate! I just said exactly the same thing and James before me, before I joined the conversation." Peter grinned, glad at being included in their joke. Maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Hey, Remus?" Sirius asked, through a mouthful of food

"Hmmhmm?" Remus replied, also eating, but possessing enough good manners to keep his mouth firmly closed.

"What did the hat say to you?" Sirius asked. Remus paused for a minute, looking edgy. He shook his head, and continued eating, not giving an answer. 

Sirius shrugged, and followed his friends' lead, not seeing the ice glare that Eliza turned on him. Viva however, saw it, but put it down to jealousy of Sirius talking to Eliza's best friend.

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At last, the food disappeared, and the Headmaster got to his feet once more.

"I think," he said, "that we have eaten all we can. So now, it is time to sleep, as you all have classes tomorrow. Goodnight to you all." He sat down again, and watched as the students got up sleepily to go off to bed.

Eliza, James and Remus lagged behind talking, when suddenly another group of students cut through the crowd of Gryffindor, cutting them off from the rest of their house. The 3 friends pushed their way through the group of Slytherins- according to the 7th year talking at the head of the crowd- and Eliza was pushed off her feet by a boy ramming into her side. Someone grabbed her by the waist to prevent her from falling to the floor and looking up she came face to face with a blonde boy she had noticed form the sorting. He seemed entirely oblivious to the students pushing past them on either side and was instead gazing down at Eliza with at dreamy, far off expression on his face. 

"Er, thanks." She said loudly to be heard over the din.

Gilderoy Lockhart kept his hands firmly on her waist, "Do you believe in love at first sight?" he asked her, "Or do I have to walk past again?"

She looked frantically over her shoulder to see if Remus and James were behind her. They were. And they were both smirking. 

"No," she said. "Could you…um- let me go..." 

"I do." he continued, paying no heed to her.

Eliza gave a nervous laugh and began to pry his hands of her waist. The crowd around them was now thinning, and the group of Gryffindors had long disappeared. "We…er…have to go," She said, stepping backwards.

"What's your name?" Gilderoy asked, then went on without waiting for an answer, "I'm Gilderoy. But to you- to you I'm Gildy. When I was six months old I won the award for Britain's Bonniest Baby." 

"Nice," Eliza commented , backing away even further, so that she was standing between James and Remus- both who looked rather like burly body guards, standing a head taller than her on either side of her petite frame. The only difference between them and burly body guards was the fact that Remus was smirking and James had a huge delighted grin on his face.

Eliza grabbed both their hands and dragged them out of the Entrance Hall, looking terrified for her life, leaving Gilderoy Lockhart standing in the centre of the now deserted room. James called over his shoulder, in a high falsetto, "Till we meet again Gildy…" as he was dragged away.

As soon as they rounded the corner that the group of Gryffindors had disappeared around, Eliza dropped both their hands and looked up at her friends terrified.

"What was that?" she looked disgusted as she continued in a dangerous whisper, "the idiot was sexually harassing me!"

This was the last straw for James and Remus, who up till that moment had been trying very hard to act at least partially civilized, and they burst out laughing.

"Gildy!" Remus snorted.

"Britain's Bonniest Baby!" James exclaimed gleefully. Eliza glared up at them both, arms crossed across her chest. 

"It's not funny!" she hissed.

"Yes it is!" James laughed, "Gildy!" 

Eliza looked desperately at Remus, who much to her annoyance, was practically doubled over with laughter. James suddenly looked at her very seriously and turned her around so as to take her hand, 

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" he asked, batting his eyelashes.

Eliza heard Remus snort behind her and she pulled her hand abruptly out of James. "It's not funny!" she exclaimed, "How would you feel! He was molesting me in public!" Probably very luckily, James was spared from answering by a pair of echoing footsteps, accompanied by a deep, male voice.

"And just what exactly is going on here?" the man asked icily. Both Remus and James immediately stopped laughing and stood straight facing him, "Why aren't you in your common rooms?" 

**************************************************************************************

Lily, who was feeling particularly tired, shuffled along with Viva, who was yawning hugely.

"I don't think I can drag my case all the way up to the dorms." Lily said, looking at the flights of staircases, and gasping as one of them suddenly broke off from the wall and moved to another floor.

"Don't worry." Viva yawned. "They'll have brought them up for us."

"First years follow me!" a girl with bushy brown hair called, beckoning for them to follow her. "I'll show you where your dormitories are." 

Lily followed eagerly, wanting nothing other than to fall into a nice warm bed and sleep.

She was so tired, in fact, that as they walked through the many corridors, she didn't even notice that the portraits were all moving, or that every so often, a suit of armour would salute, or the many hidden entrances behind portraits and tapestries that the girl led them through. 

When finally, they reached a portrait of a stately lady dressed in pink, who asked for the password, and the girl called out; "Brussels!" she woke up a bit, and made a mental note to remember it, after doing a double take to look at the moving portrait again.

"This way." The girl ushered, gently pushing a gaping Lily through the portrait hole and into a warm cosy room filled with red and gold tapestries and squidgy armchairs, Lily found herself smiling tiredly despite herself, not really listening to what the girl was saying, but hungrily- despite all she had eaten- drinking in her surroundings.

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Eliza recognized him immediately as one of the teachers sitting at the high table at the start of term banquet. He was a huge, black man- not overweight at all, just big and very muscly- like a rugby player. The emphasis was taken off his heavy jaw line with a squarish sort of beard which joined into his moustache, and his long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. A thin scar ran along his left cheek, stopping just before it reached his wide, straight nose. His thick eyebrows were furrowed so deeply they cast a shadow over his black eyes. He was not a man to be messed with. 

"We...er..." Eliza began, "I dunno…" she trailed off, looking nervously up at the big man who seemed to positively tower over her.

"We got separated from our house," Remus said responsibly, in the grown up voice that he reserved especially for adults, "and we don't know the way to our common room."

"A likely story," the man sneered, surveying the three of them with an already decided dislike, "What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor." James said immediately.

"You will address me as sir, or professor." The man said coolly now training his eye on James, "Gryffindor did you say, I probably could have guessed. Unfortunately, it is not up to me what happens to you as I am not your head of house- but minus 5 points each." He ran his eyes over them again and sneered, "As soon, as there are any points to be lost. For being out of bounds."

"But sir-" Eliza began.

"Be quiet Miss- or it will be 10." Eliza shut her mouth very quickly. "Now follow me." The man turned walked off in the direction of the great hall. James, Remus and Eliza glanced at each other before going after him. "What are your names?" The man asked, not looking back at them. 

"James Potter."

"Eliza Silverstein." Eliza made a rather offensive gesture at his back as she said this, and James had to stifle a laugh. Remus just looked at her warningly as he said, "Remus Lupin, Sir."

"Ahh. Professor McGonagall." The man called, and the professor, who had been making her way across the Entrance Hall, turned to look at him questioningly.

"Yes Professor Dakota?" she asked, "Is there anything I can do?" 

"Yes- as a matter of fact there is." He stepped aside and motioned James, Eliza and Remus to move forward. They did so rather nervously. Professor Dakota continued, "I found three of your students wandering around out of their common rooms- they tell me that they were separated from the rest of their house after the feast and didn't know how to find their way to the Gryffindor Tower- although I can't help but wonder why, half an hour after the banquet is over they are still wondering around near the Entrance hall and haven't been to find help." 

Professor McGonagall surveyed them through her square spectacles and pursed her lips, "Well, thank you Professor- if you 3 would kindly follow me." 

James, Remus and Eliza now followed McGonagall out of the hall again, leaving Dakota watching the with utmost contempt. The stern looking lady stared straight ahead but Eliza could swear that she saw the corner of her mouth twitch as she said, "I'm glad to see that you have dried yourselves off." 

Eliza and James glanced at each other behind her back and grinned.

The four walked in silence for a long while before McGonagall came to a stop in front of the portrait of a large blond woman wearing an elaborate lacy pink dress. She smiled kindly down at them as the Professor said, "this is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room." 

"We're not in trouble?" James asked confused. Eliza and Remus looked just as blank- all three had assumed that the professor was taking them to her office to dish out detentions.

McGonagall shook her head, "I don't like to give out detentions on the first night," she pursed her lips and looked down at them sternly, "In fact, I don't enjoy giving out detentions at all- and it would be much appreciated if you would stay out of trouble so that I don't have to." The three friends nodded up at her.

"Good- the password is Brussels, and I will be seeing you three at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Gryffindor first years is my first class of the year." 

"Thank you." Remus called, as she turned and disappeared around the corner.

Eliza was grinning gleefully, "what a cool old bat!" she exclaimed, "Brussels." The portrait whole swung open to reveal a large cosy, circular room filled with an assortment of mismatched plush scarlet armchairs and small tables. Scarlet and gold tapestries hung around the walls and a large stone fireplace stood at one wall- now alight and sending soft golden light dancing around the large room. Small groups of students were sitting around chatting and as the three walked into the room a voice called, "Remus, James, Eliza!". Looking across the room they saw Viva, Sirius and Jordy sitting on a particularly large couch by the fire.

"Where've you been?" Sirius yelled at them, causing people to look up at him. Out of the corner of her eye, Eliza could see James' face slowly being taken over by a delighted grin. She had a pretty good idea of what was running through his head.

"You had better not tell him!" she hissed out of the corner of her mouth as they made their way over.

"About what?" James asked, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Britain's Bonniest Baby?" 

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Jordy awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a faint strumming. Soundlessly, she slipped from her bed, and padded over to the windowsill, where it was coming from. She raised her eyebrows as she saw Viva, sitting with a guitar under the huge half-moon, strumming and scribbling alternately on a sheet of parchment, and muttering under her breath.

"Do you play?" Jordy mumbled as she sat down next to Viva. Viva jumped, pulling her wand out from nowhere, and gasping as she turned.

"Oh." She sighed, letting out a long breath and putting her wand down. "It's only you. You gave me a fright, Jordy." 

"Sorry." Jordy replied, smiling and looking at the sheet that Viva had been scribbling on. It appeared to be music, scribbled hastily so that Viva was probably the only one who could read it. "You any good?" she asked, gesturing to the guitar nestled comfortably on Vivas lap. Viva shrugged noncommittally. "How long you been playing?" Jordy pressed.

"Seven years." Viva muttered.

"So you've got to be good!" Jordy replied brightly, a bit shocked at how long Viva had been playing. Viva shrugged again.

"Play me something." Jordy said. Viva didn't move. "Please?" she begged. "Play and I'll braid your hair so it won't be all messed up in the morning."

Viva smiled. "Who else do you know with curly hair?" she asked.

"Sister." Jordy responded.

"'Kay." Viva said, shifting so Jordy could braid her hair and strumming a chord on her guitar.

She smiled contentedly. Hogwarts had begun.

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**End of chapter three**

Yay! Three chapters! Yay! Yay! Yay! (Three yays for three chapters!) Don't ya just love Eliza and Siri? Well, review, for there is more to come!

The reviewers are our inspirations!

Go the reviewers!

-Toesox

PS. So you're not all confused, next up we'll be skipping to fourth year. Don't worry, this is the only time skip, but we figured that the first three years were pretty much boring elementary stuff. There's only so many chapters that you can read about a bunch of 11 year old waving wands and putting fireworks down peoples pants before you start to doze off.  


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